Mayor of London pushes ahead with expansion of Ultra Low Emission Zone

Londoners will start to see new Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) expansion zone signs which are being erected around the North and South Circular.

After his re-election, Sadiq Khan pledges to ‘be the greenest ever’ Mayor of London, and says he has a mandate from Londoners to put environment and climate policies at the focus in his second term of office.

‘I pledge to be the greenest Mayor London’s ever had with a mandate from Londoners to put the environment and climate policies at the heart of my second term in office. Today I am reaffirming my commitment to speed up the cleaning of London’s toxic air,’ Khan commented.

One of his first acts as the re-elected Mayor will be recommitting to the expansion of the world’s first ULEZ in October of this year in order to reduce air pollution and protect public health.

The central London ULEZ was introduced in April 2019 with the aim to half roadside concentrations of nitrogen dioxide. The expansion of the ULEZ hopes to limit emissions across more of London.

While significant progress has been made, with a substantial reduction in the number of Londoners living in areas exceeding legal limits for NO2, tens of thousands of Londoners still breathe illegally polluted air and 99 per cent of Londoners live in areas exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended guidelines for PM2.5, which are much tighter than the legal standards. 

Research shows that those exposed to the worst air pollution are more likely to be deprived Londoners and from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities. There is also emerging evidence linking air pollution with an increased vulnerability to the most severe impacts of COVID. 

World-leading measures, including the central London ULEZ, introduced by the Mayor in his first term had already cut the number of state schools with illegal levels of pollution by 97 per cent – from 455 schools in 2016 to just 14 in 2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The ULEZ expansion is not only vital to achieving compliance with legal limits for air pollution but is also a key step towards meeting the more stringent health-driven World Health Organization guidelines for toxic particulate pollution by 2030. 

The newly re-elected Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, stated: ‘In central London, the Ultra Low Emission Zone has already helped cut toxic roadside nitrogen dioxide pollution by nearly half and led to reductions that are five times greater than the national average.

‘But pollution is not just a central London problem, which is why expanding the ULEZ later this year will benefit Londoners across the whole of the city and is a crucial step in London’s green recovery. There is no time to waste. We know pollution hits the poorest Londoners the hardest which is why I’m doing everything I can to improve the health for all Londoners.’

A recent poll shows that 68 per cent of people polled supporting charges to discourage the most polluting vehicles.

Jemima Hartshorn, Founder of Mums for Lungs, said: ‘Mums for Lungs has campaigned for an expansion of the ULEZ for over three years now, so we are glad that this scheme will be implemented very soon. The ULEZ in central London has really reduced NO2-pollution across the area, and more children will benefit from ULEZ expansion.

‘But more is needed to ensure that London meets World Health Organization guidelines, so we call on the Mayor, national government, councils and business to work together to ensure breathing no longer harms the health of London’s children.’